"An example of a subject which I love to depict in my work is origami Tsuru (paper cranes). Although its a fairly common symbol in Japan, a symbol/icon of peace and longevity. To me it also holds extra special meaning … as it is something I closely associate with the dear memories of both my father and grandmother, both of whom passed away not so long ago."

"Un curioso abrazo / A curious embrace"

Born in Sydney Australia, Nanami Cowdroy has close bonds to her mixed Japanese-European heritage. Growing up with such contrasting cultures and surroundings has greatly influenced her style of art and the way she expresses her creativity.

By intertwining complex characters and highly detailed objects, her pieces reflect a juxtaposition between foreign and familiar entities and environments. Her imagination is illustrated through works which are both elaborate and exotic. She is drawn to subjects, which may on the surface seem delicate or fragile, but are given strength and depth through her pen and ink techniques, intricate hand illustrative style and mixed media compositions.

Her signature detailed style reflects a refined monochrome pallette with her name ‘Nanami’ (meaning ‘Seven Seas’ in Japanese) stamped in red. Fluid line-work and watery creatures are some of her favourite subjects and distinctive forms which feature in her artworks.

"Desbordamiento / Over Flow"

"On my father’s European (French & Scottish) side, the artistic blood runs pretty deep … There are political cartoonists, graphic designers, writers and many fine-art artists … Dad fondly used to call it the ‘Cowdroy Bug’. On my mother’s (Japanese) side, my mother is an Ikebana teacher, my cousin’s a photographer, my uncle a (documentary) film director, and my auntie a ‘Kitsukeshi’ (traditional way of Kimono dressing)."

"Tampopo"

"Pez de tinta 01 / Ink Fish 01"

"[At my father's home] There was Australian oil paintings of bush landscapes placed alongside Japanese painted folded screens (‘Byobu’) of cherry blossoms and willow trees. Japanese porcelain dolls dressed in silk kimonos as well as decorated traditional fans, displayed next to hand-made clay and carved wooden bowls from [for example] the Blue Mountains.

Wood block prints and scrolls of sumi-e paintings of [for example] bamboo, hung next to ink sketches of Sydney suburbia. As well as many various photographs of Japanese shrines and scenes of Mount Fuji framed on the walls beside photos of white yachts sailing on Sydney Harbour, etc.

All in all, like osmosis – growing up surrounded by such contrasting cultures, definitely filtered into my natural visual appreciation and understanding of art and the different aspects of my heritage."

"Estanque de tinta / Ink Pond"

"Kari-No-Yo (Mundo transitorio / Transient World)"

"I have always loved and been enthralled by the amazingly, visually enticing works of modern artists (particularly Surrealists) such as MC Escher, Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali (to name only a few). I find their dream-like, nonsensical imagery so exciting! Their clever trickery through their images – like MC Escher’s playing on perception and impossible perspective, which is sometimes so subtle in depiction, is something I definitely delight in and can look at for hours!"

"Lágrimas de tinta / Ink Tears"

"The primary foundation and basis to all my work is my hand drawn illustration and painting. In the past, I would sometimes like to add in a background grey gradient behind the scanned artwork … But nowadays, I don’t like using any digital elements. I’ve definitely moved away from it. For me, at the end of the day, I find that the pen is mightier than the mouse. ;)"

"Ahumado / Smoked"

"Escalera real / Royal Flush"

"To give a little bit of background, as with most of my artwork – it can take me several weeks/months to complete off and on, and I normally have multiple artworks going on at once. As I never strictly plan out my works, it’s more of an intuitive creative process, my pieces can become somewhat of my own personal mind map of sorts. They’re almost like a visual documentation of how I may have been feeling and thinking over time. An example is when some areas within the image, have been noticeably reworked and some patches of the canvas/page have been thinned out because of this."

This is an open art blog, so you could find images eventually offensive or umconfortable.

If you're an artist and find here images of your art you want to be removed, just tell me and I'll do it immediately. I try to ask for permission always if artist is alive and there's a way to contact, bot not always is possible and there are things I think worth to be known.

In any case, the copyrights of all the images contained in this blog, except where noted, belong to the artists or the legal owners of such rights, and have been published nonprofit and for the only purpose of make the works known to the general public.

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